1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to graphics. In particular, the invention relates to graphics port interface.
2. Background of the Invention
A typical graphics display system may have a number of graphics capabilities. An integrated chipset may have internal graphics controller and interface to an external graphic device via a graphics port. Depending on system requirements and platform, a user may select whether the internal graphics controller or the external graphic device is used. To provide flexibility for board manufacturers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM""s) in designing graphics-based systems, it is desirable to have an efficient mechanism to select the desired graphics capability. However, since the signal definitions for the internal graphics controller are usually different than those of the interface graphics port for external devices, it is a design challenge to provide this selection mechanism.
One technique for the selection of the desired graphics capability is to provide two sets of guidelines: one set for the internal graphics controller and another set for the external device. This technique creates complexity in board designs and incur additional software overhead for configuration and initialization.